Knoydart,
in the North West Highlands, was a particularly idyllic estate. However,
a succession of potato blights and the failure of migrating herring
shoals brought famine and poverty to the area. In 1852 the Factor was
ordered to clear the tenants to make way for sheep. Four hundred people
were evicted and transported to America.

In the early 1930's, a young English aristocrat, Lord Brocket, bought
the estate. Brocket was a Nazi sympathiser to the extent that he was
Hitler's personal guest at the Fuhrer's fiftieth birthday celebrations
in April 1939.

During the war years,
the Knoydart Estate served a very useful purpose in the Allied war effort,
much to Herr Brocket's chagrin. Britain's military authorities requisitioned
the estate for the duration in order to house and train commandos and
undercover special forces.

When peace returned
in 1945, the British troops left and after some time, Lord and Lady
Brocket returned to Knoydart.

In a new post-war
spirit of peace and reconciliation, Lady Brocket's first order to her
employees was to completely remove every piece of crockery and cutlery
from the house and chuck them into the sea. All other items which those
nasty Allied servicemen also might have touched suffered the same fate
- even every single cludgie, with seat, was ripped out and dumped in
the briny!

Continuing their "good employer and neighbour policy", the
Brockets also sacked umpteen staff and replaced them with "loyal"
gamekeepers to scare off unwelcome intruders such as leisurely hill-walkers,
any children playing on the beach and unwise straying shepherds who
were additionally warned they might accidentally get shot in mistake
for red deer.

The locals
may have been silently enduring all this up to now, but then the pressure
cooker blew. A war for freedom had just been fought at great cost and
a new social liberty and equality was expected. Returning young men needed
a plot of land to build new peaceful lives and now they were losing patience
with the high-handedness of this English despot.

On
9th November 1948, the seven, including fighting veterans of the recent
World War, invaded the Knoydart Estate, staked out 65 acres of arable
land each and 10,000 acres of hill land and settled in. Perhaps that
sounds a lot, but as part of the whole estate, it was miniscule.

News of the land-raid
(or sit-in or squat) was reported nationally, the Scottish nation loudly
cheered and sent mountains of fan-mail to the wee post-office at Inverie
!

Undeterred, Brocket
struck back with that landlord's legal remedy, a "Get off My Land
!" Court Order.

The "Seven"
meanwhile were invoking the Land Settlement Act of the post-WW1 era,
which permitted returning ex-servicemen to take over land which was
under-used and farm it as their own. The vast Knoydart estate was certainly
under-used, being nothing more than a rich man's outdoor playground.

The "Seven"
also believed that the landslide Labour Government elected at the end
of WW2, would not let them down when it counted. They hired a lawyer,
who assured them that they only needed to follow a number of legal processes
in order to almost certainly win their case. Now - this road to victory
was best served in the modern day and age, by first vacating the squatted
land. BIG MISTAKE !

Once off the land,
they lost their best bargaining chip and were on a hiding to nothing.
Brocket's legal legions mercilessly blitzkreiged the Seven. Then the
Labour Government bottled out completely.

Lord Brocket, hallowed
member of the British aristocracy, won. The Seven Men of Knoydart became
legendary heroes to the cause of crofting rights as well as to many
of the Scottish working class.

And so the tale
ended - or so it seemed. But even if the Seven Men of Knoydart failed,
their spirit lives on. In this new Millennium, little by little, but
at increasing speed, Scottish people are reclaiming land from the outsiders.
Places such as Eigg and Assynt are in the hands of real people.

Today, Knoydart
is finding some positive new life breathed into it. The estate was purchased
by the Knoydart Foundation in 1999 and has now hopefully seen the last
of absentee landlords or sporting estate ownership. For more information
and the opportunity to support the aims of the foundation click on the
picture.